Returning Women Engineers to the Workforce

Women are often faced with choices that may pull them out of the workforce for varying lengths of time (seemingly more so than their male counterparts). Maternity leave, elder care, or a partner’s career opportunity, relocation.

If professionals are out of the workforce for an extended amount of time, re-entering can seem daunting or down right impossible. It shouldn’t be that way and Booz Allen offers a solution through our engagement with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and iRelaunch’s STEM Task Force, of which Booz Allen is a founding member.

The goal? Getting women with STEM skills back in the workforce after gap years. It’s a cause taken up by many leading companies including IBM, General Motors and nearly 60 others worldwide.

“What those women may not know is how much we need them,” says Holly Rollins a senior cybersecurity director who spearheads Booz Allen’s participation in the iRelaunch program. “These are incredibly talented, skilled women, and yes, it’s great that we’re helping them restart their careers. But Booz Allen benefits from this program, too. Competition for talented employees is fierce, and we feel we’ve got the inside track to a pool of talented, smart women.”

In 2016, Booz Allen launched its “Return-to-Work Program,” a paid internship to draw women engineers back to the workforce. It’s coming back in 2017 with a few key enhancements:

• 12-week internships (up from last year’s 9 weeks)
• Internships kick off in the fall (versus summer, when kids are off school)
• Expanded opportunities in geographies across the U.S.—in Colorado Springs, CO; San Diego and Los Angeles, CA; Albuquerque, NM, San Antonio, TX, Dayton, OH; and Rome, NY

The program targets women engineers with 3+ years of experience, and those who have been out of the workforce for a minimum of 24 months. The focus is on high-demand skill sets—like engineering, cybersecurity, software development, and data science.

“Women who have taken a break from the workforce can struggle to explain a gap on their resume,” continued Holly. “With Booz Allen’s internship, women don’t have to worry about that gap, and we’re gaining expertise we need to drive solutions for our clients.”

The focus of the 12-week internship is rebooting skills through formal training and meaningful engagement with colleagues. Interns may focus on obtaining a security clearance, seeking relevant certifications, and reengaging in their fields without the pressure of billability and client assignment performance.

This enables interns to ease back in and determine if returning to work is optimal for their families. It also mitigates risks to hiring managers who are able to “try it before you buy it” to ensure the gap in service is filled through focused training.

Martha Johnston was ready to jump back into her career after an 18-year break to raise her children. With a degree in industrial engineering she heard about Booz Allen’s iRelaunch program in 2016 and was part of the pilot cohort. Now a fulltime Booz Allen employee focusing on cybersecurity for Air Force clients, Martha says the program felt tailor made for her.

“It’s so exciting to be engaged in a technical, challenging, and rewarding career again,” says Martha. “The iRelaunch internship was the perfect opportunity to re-enter the workforce because there’s an understanding that you might be a little rusty on some things. Booz Allen provides the support and training interns need to be successful.”